From my recent holiday near Southampton, UK
57 amazing things I’ve learned in 57 years
I turned 57 at the end of December, and whenever thought leaders have a birthday, a fair number of them create a “X things I’ve learned which I wish I knew when I was X, but didn’t” list.
Annoyingly, some of those articles should be entitled “X clichés and blindingly-obvious insights I’ve pinched from other people’s lists”.
So here’s my crack at it, trying my best to avoid the tired and the stale, the self-evident and the pompous.
1. Heinz & those 57 varieties
Apparently, there were never 57 varieties. Mr Heinz just thought 57 looked cool. So he went for it.
Lesson learned: Delight in the beauty of things. Create beauty where you can.
Other lesson learned: Most of it’s made up. You can make it up too.
2. Friendships get formed when you do things with people
As lovely as having coffee or dinner with people might be, those experiences are less likely to stain the soul. When you venture forth, and co-create something, there’s a give and take that invites a relationship to form.
Lesson learned: Seek adventures with others.
Other lesson learned: You don’t want to be friends with most people. But for those you do, give it all you can.
3. Alchemy happens at the intersections
If you stick to your lane, learning tends to be linear and incremental. Magic happens when you start thinking about how something from one world might mix and mingle with something from another world. I first remember doing this at university, where I wrote my law thesis using theories from English literature. (No-one, including me, really understood it.)
Right now, for instance, I’m asking, “how would Marvel manage the ideas from The Coaching Habit?” and “What might the art of Van Eyck tell me about how I want to show up on LinkedIn?”
Lesson learned: Seek differences. Mush it together.
Other lesson learned: When you have a challenge in mind, get out in the world and let serendipity help you find an answer.
4. Be brave. Life is joyous
This hangs in my office, and it’s never not true.
Lesson learned: If I can be brave, things happen.
Other lessons learned: If I keep remembering life is joyous, I can more easily be brave.
Postscript: Michael Leunig, the cartoonist, died in December. He’s long been a source of solace and wisdom for me, and I’ll miss his work.
5. Being able to count is overrated
There’s no way I’m doing 57 points on this list. Who has time for that? (To read it, yet alone to write it.) (That said, I might do a longer list at another time … would you be interested if I did?)
Lesson learned: It’s fun to subvert expectations.
Other lesson learned: I’ll do anything for a laugh.
